Soft Pretzel Wash...???

Soft Pretzel Wash...???

One of my first jobs in the 1960's was a pretzel delivery boy...using a 1946 Dodge (3 on the tree) I went from the bakery to the vending site (UC Berkeley campus)...the bakery (The Jabberwok) was a pizza parlor that was used until about 4PM...

The pretzels came in from Philly...we dipped them in some kind of wash, sprinkled salt, and baked them in the pizza ovens... To this day I don't know what the wash was...someting in the back of my mind says it was some kind of alkaline, don't really know...' Any ideas...??? Any soft pretzel recipes...???